Archive for the ‘War on terror’ Category

In my ongoing research into buying a Mac Book Pro (including whether Tangler looks good in Safari), and its supposed heat issues, I heard about the amazing story of “Mathew from Boston”.

Mathew had recently purchased a Mac Book Pro and was taking it on a flight with him. Before boarding he put the notebook into sleep mode and stored it in his backpack. As the flight was taking off though, he noticed the distinct smell of burning plastic, which to his horror was coming from the backpack under his feet. His Mac Book Pro had failed to shutdown properly and was now so overheated in the confined space that it had begun to melt the bag and emit acrid smoke.

Now Mathew is of “Iranian heritage”, on a US domestic flight, in the middle of a War On Terror ™, with a burning backpack under his seat. Things were not going well, and the passengers sitting around him started getting nervous, very nervous.

Fearing action from his fellow passengers Mathew borders on panic as he tries to turn the machine off. After fumbling in vain for a while, he considers calling in a hostess and asking to be taken to the cockpit, until he realizes that will likely come out as “Hi, I’m Iranian, have a burning bag and would like to see the captain”, which would be interpreted by the middle-American hostess as “Hi! Bomb! You Die! Allah! Captain.”

After minutes of anxiety Mathew is finally able to disassemble the notebook by pulling it apart and forcing the power to shutdown. Nevertheless, the remainder of the flight was an uncomfortable experience.

So just do it… buy a Mac, then hijack a plane – just threaten the hostess whilst wildly waving your Mac Book in her face. “Don’t try to stop me or I’ll put this thing in sleep mode!”